Engineering Superior Valve Solutions for the World’s Largest LNG Project Podcast Liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities require rugged, reliable valves for safe, efficient, and sustainable operations. It’s also critical to reduce complexity and use the right valves for the application across the facility’s lifecycle, from initial engineering through construction, commissioning, operations, and ongoing maintenance.

Emerson’s Andrea Sutti and Massimiliano Franco join me in the Emerson Automation Experts podcast to discuss the role of these critical valves and actuators in the world’s largest LNG project. They share the importance of selecting and testing the actuated valves to meet the requirements of safety, isolation and control applications.

Give the podcast a listen and visit the Valves, Actuators and Regulators for the Entire LNG Value Chain section on Emerson.com.

Transcript

Jim: Hi, everyone. I’m Jim Cahill, and this is another Emerson Automation Experts podcast. Today we’re on another episode in a four-part series that explores the role of control technologies in helping drive efficient and reliable LNG production. Emerson’s valves, regulators, and actuators empower the entire LNG value chain from the liquefaction process to transport and terminals, and from project startup and commissioning to long-term facility operations and maintenance. Today I’m joined by Andrea Sutti and Massimiliano Franco to discuss a successful installation, commissioning, and operations of a massive Middle East LNG facility. Welcome, gentlemen. Let’s begin by having you introduce yourselves.

Andrea: Hi, Jim, and thank you for this opportunity. Hi, everyone. My name is Andrea Sutti. I’m the Global Product Manager for Vanessa Triple Offset Valves.

Max: Hello to all of you. My name is Massimiliano Franco. I’m working for Biffi, a plant located in Italy. I’m responsible for the actuators in the actuation technologies SBU.

Jim: Well, with that great background, that’ll really help in our discussion today. So Andrea, let me start with you. Can you give us an overview of this massive LNG project in the Middle East?

Andrea: Yes. We are talking about the largest LNG plant to date. It is located in the Middle East, consisting in four mega-trains of LNG production. Each of them has the capacity of 8 million tons of LNG per year, a gigantic installation that is made even bigger by the fact that, differently from the conventional LNG facilities, this one also includes the gas treatment plant being located nearby the gas field. And by the way, there is also plan for further expansion adding two more production mega-trains.

Jim: Wow. It’s big already and about to get a lot bigger. That’s very impressive. Can you tell us some of the key challenges that this customer was facing in building this massive LNG facility?

Andrea: The customer challenges are reflecting the overall challenges of the entire LNG industry. We know the importance of the LNG for the global energy supply and the importance of the LNG as a key transitional greener fuel for the journey to net zero. All elements that put the LNG industry under the spotlight in terms of production capacity, efficiency, and reduced impact on the environment. All challenges that are reflected into demanding requirements for all the equipment and the components that are part of the LNG facility, among which the actuated valves play a very important role.

Max: Yes. Thank you, Andrea. Regarding the actuators in front of the customer, the responsibility to guarantee the performance and the delivery is a key factor. And that means you need to have a very strong cooperation between the actuator maker and the valve maker. Then these aspects, the synergy, and their ability to provide the solution is a crucial role on that type of project in general, but especially when you have mega projects. And Biffi and Vanessa have more than 50 years of cooperation together. And regarding the capability to provide what is requested by mega projects, just to give you some numbers, Biffi in the LNG in the last three years delivered more than 4,500 actuators per year divided by electrical actuators, pneumatic, and hydraulic type. Just to tell you, in terms of U.S. dollar, we are talking about for a total of $120 million.

Jim: Wow. That’s an impressive amount in what was sold there. Now, this project used thousands of Vanessa valves and Biffi actuators. Can you tell us about the type of applications they served?

Andrea: Yes, I will start by mentioning the emergency actuated valves that are protecting the personnel and the equipment in case of an emergency situation, and for which the quick and reliable response is crucial in order to guarantee safety. And then the on-off actuated valves operating molecular sieve process, that are required to perform thousands of cycles under very demanding process conditions, such as temperature fluctuations and the presence of particulates inside the gas. And finally, the core of the LNG facility, the liquefaction column where the natural gas is liquefied before being handled for transportation. For all these applications, the customer selected the Emerson Vanessa Biffi actuated valves because the recognized capability to release engineered solutions able to meet the demanding requirements of these critical applications.

Max: Yes, 100% agree, Andrea, with you. If an actuator valve fails, you can start to have dangerous situations and you can start to lose money. These two aspects in a big project is important, but when you have a mega project, it is a massive situation to avoid. Then the reliability of the actuator is crucial. And then you need to perform the correct sizing selection and the correct actuator selection according to the safety level requested that is different in each part of the plant. Just to give you an example, and Andrea explained and mentioned that is the molecular sieve. In that specific case, you have an extensive number of cycles requested, and then you need to guarantee the combination of actuator and valve with the capability to reduce as much as possible the maintenance interval between each maintenance activity. And the selection is crucial in term of torque and in term of other features. Then you need to know what is requested, you need to know what is the valve performances and the actuator that you can combine.

Jim: Yeah, now given all those Vanessa series 30,000 triple offset valves and being such a major component of the project, can you explain what sets these valves apart from traditional valve technologies?

Andrea: Let me answer this question by mentioning the four foundational elements of the Vanessa Triple Offset Valve that set this product apart from the competition of the traditional valves design. Starting from the quarter turn rotation that ensures superior performances in terms of fugitive emission containment compared to the traditional raising stem valves. And then, the frictionless design combined with the full metal construction make the Vanessa valve an extremely robust product, versatile, and capable to adapt to a wide variety of industrial applications with minimum maintenance required. And finally, the torque seating design, Vanessa valve requires minimum torque to operate. And this makes the package of Vanessa Biffi actuated valves more compact, cost-effective and reliable compared to the traditional position-seated valves.

Jim: Well, those are pretty four strong reasons why there’s so many of those in that project. And I know I’ve seen pictures that this also featured the largest Vanessa Series 30,000 Triple Offset Valves ...